An hour before the game, the Loko fan section staged a march to the Basket-Hall; and—to jump ahead a bit—the home crowd proved to be one of the game’s key protagonists, repeatedly spurring the players on during difficult moments and helping them regain their composure.
The game debut was pretty intense: Alen Hadzibegovic connected from mid-range, Mike Moore and Makar Konovalov each hit a three-pointer. Andrei Martyuk also scored from beyond the arc; the Zenit center’s long-range shot made the score 10:8 in Loko’s favor in the 3rd minute.
The visitors regained game control for the next few minutes, slowing the pace, drawing fouls effectively, and taking a 4-point lead thanks to accurate free-throw shooting. Loko’s substitutes then made a successful impact: Vsevolod Ishchenko scored 2+1, and Ivan Samoilenko added successful free throws to his earlier three-pointer, swinging the lead back to our team at 20:16. However, that wasn’t the final lead change of the 1st quarter; three-pointers from Andrei Vorontsevich and Sergey Karasev allowed Zenit to edge the opening period, 24:25.
Early in the 2nd quarter, the lead changed hands twice more: Dmitry Uzinsky responded to a layup by Jeremiah Martin and a dunk by Vince Hunter, making it 28:29 by the 13th minute. Ishchenko broke a brief scoring drought for Lokomotiv with a solo drive, bringing the score to 32:36. He scored again shortly after, and combined with a basket from Kirill Temirov, this nearly offset Trent Frazier’s three-pointers—leaving the score at 36:41 at halftime.
During the halftime break, we honored our Academy teams that secured podium finishes at the Russian Championships this past season. The 2025/26 sports year saw us claim four sets of silver medals, won by the Loko-DYUBL, Loko-2009, Loko-2010, and Loko-2011 teams. We believe that, in time, we will see many of these young talents playing for our main team!
A five-point deficit needed to be erased. And on the very first possession of the 2nd half, Ivan Samoilenko tied the game in spectacular fashion: he scored a mid-range jumper, Loko retained possession following a foul by Frazier, and our guard added a three-pointer. Over the next minute, Moore contributed two baskets—one from deep and one from mid-range—while Miller also made a strong impact. Zenit quickly reached the foul limit, but this allowed them to disrupt Loko’s offensive momentum, bringing the score to 50:50 by the midway point of the quarter.
The next few minutes belonged to Zenit: a 10:2 run, compounded by two fouls from Ishchenko—our guard found himself sitting on 4 personal fouls and headed to the bench to cool off. A play featuring a scoring pass from Miller to Alen Hadzibegovic came at just the right moment, and the quarter ended with an exchange of free throws (marked by frequent misses on both sides)—leaving the score at 55:62 in Zenit’s favor heading into the decisive ten-minute period.
Loko quickly erased much of that deficit thanks to three-pointers from Moore and Miller. Zenit was scoring too, but less frequently; after a dunk by Hunter, Rostislav Vergun called a timeout with the score at 63:66. Martyuk and Xavier Moon continued to put points on the board for, but the flow of the game shifted noticeably: Moore clawed back another 3 points, and Zenit’s defense lost track of Kirill Temirov during an inbound throw-in—so, suddenly, the gap was down to a single point at 69:70. Both teams tightened up their defense, and Loko proved more accurate from the free-throw line; Miller put us in the lead, and Samoylenko extended the advantage with a shot from beyond the arc, making it 76:72. There was another exchange of free throws and missed shots—until Moore scored on a second-chance opportunity, bringing the score to 79:73 with just over a minute left on the clock!
Zenit calls a timeout. After the break, Frazier quickly scores 3 points. Miller takes the ball and hits a mid-range jumper. Frazier responds with 2 points; then Ishchenko is fouled and sinks both free throws, making it 83:78 with exactly 30 seconds left.
Frazier isn’t done yet: he converts a 2+1, cutting the margin to 2 points. It is clear the visitors will foul immediately after the inbound. Hunter receives the ball but manages to pass it to our today’s top shooter, Moore. The opponent fouls, and Mike delivers—85:81. Zenit calls another timeout; when play resumes, Frazier takes a three-pointer, but it’s a very difficult shot—he misses, and Loko gets their first victory in this series.
Game 4 of this best-of-five series will take place at our arena on June 9 at 8:00 PM. We look forward to seeing a packed house. Your support was a crucial factor in today’s victory. Let’s do it again on Tuesday.
Let’s go, Loko!